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The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists (1996) is a film directed by Roy Allen Smith. This was the last Land Before Time sequel directed by Smith, and the last sequel to feature the original voice cast. Voice Actors English Voice Cast *Candace Hutson as Cera *Heather Hogan as Ducky *Rob Paulsen as Spike *Jeff Bennett as Petrie/Ichy *Scott McAfee as Littlefoot *Kenneth Mars as Grandpa Longneck *Linda Gary as Grandma Longneck *Carol Bruce as the Old One *Juliana Hansen as Ali *Tress MacNeille as Ali's Mother/Dil *Charles Durning as Archie *Frank Welker as Tickles/Swimming Sharptooth/Domeheads Japanese voice cast *Minami Takayama: Littlefoot *Rica Matsumoto: Cera *Satomi Kōrogi: Ducky *Yūji Mitsuya: Petrie *Sailor King: Spike Note: The Japanese voice actors are appearing so far. Plot A group of migrating longnecks, whom Grandma and Grandpa Longneck identify as their cousins, arrive in the Great Valley on a temporary stay. When they arrive, their leader, the Old One, tells her cousins of how her herd's land was changed by heavy rainfalls, and how strange and predatory creatures who only live in marshlands began to take up residence there, which is why her herd had to move. Littlefoot, meanwhile, plays tag with his friends, during which he meets a female longneck named Ali, who arrived with the herd. The two become friends and Littlefoot introduces her to his gang, all of whom except Cera greet her welcomingly. Ali is shy, however, as she has only ever gotten to know her own kind, which aggravates Cera's dislikes towards her. Meanwhile, Littlefoot finds out that his grandfather has gone down with a severe illness, which the Old One says no one who has suffered ever recovered from unless they ate the Nightflower, a golden flower which only grows in the Land of the Mists - the land they moved from. Littlefoot's Grandfather tells him to join the herd with his grandmother if he dies. Nobody is willing to risk the journey into the dangerous wetlands to find the Nightflower, so Littlefoot decides he'll have to do it himself. He asks Ali to come along, but she has one request; that his friends do not accompany them. She insists that they will only slow them down. In order to reach the Land of the Mists, they must travel through a maze of tunnels and caverns, one of which Littlefoot accidentally setts off an earthquake in. The earthquake does not harm either of them, but a wall of rocks which falls down between them blocks them both from each other. Ali runs off to get help, unaware that a belly dragger named Dil and a sharp beak named Ichy have been planning to catch and eat them. She finds Littlefoot's friends, and tells them what happened, but Cera refuses to come help, accusing Ali of having made it up. Littlefoot, still trapped inside the cave, has no idea what has become of Ali, and so seeks to find a way out. On the way he meets Archie, an old Archelon who tries to be scary, but admits he's actually nice, and tries to help Littlefoot get out of the cave. However, Ichy and Dil attack them, during which Ali and the others arrive and begin digging at the wall of debris. While Archie distracts the villainous duo from Littlefoot the best he can, Cera shows up and knocks down the top quarter of the wall, freeing Littlefoot while the falling rocks temporarily knock out Ichy and Dil. Although by now the others have accepted Ali, Cera's pride has been hurt by her, and she maintains a grudge. Littlefoot, meanwhile, tells Archie why he and Ali were in the cave, after explaining to his friends what was happening on his side of the wall. Archie then shows them a shortcut to the Land of the Mists, and parts with a reminder that they must stay close together. As the mists suddenly thicken around them, Cera gets lost, and while the others are trying to find her, they meet a cute mammal Ducky names "Tickles" because of his "tickly fuzzies". Upon Littlefoot's request, Tickles locates Cera, who is huddled up on a cliff to avoid getting further lost. At that moment, the cliff crumbles away, causing her to plunge into a fast-moving river. While everyone tries to pull her out with a long vine, Ichy and Dil show up and attack her. The others start pelting them with rocks, while Ali runs down to save Cera, but falls down the steep slope. This distracts the villains, who head towards Ali, but she ducks as Ichy flies over to nab her, and hops onto a passing log, which Cera also climbs aboard. Once safely back on land, Cera apologizes to Ali, and they become friends. By night, the group has not yet found the flowers, and decide to take a rest in a field of inconspicuous, closed blossoms. As they sleep, the flowers blossom open, revealing themselves to be the fabled Nightflowers, which Spike and Tickles, being the first to wake, quickly inform the others. Returning home loaded with Nightflowers, the group again is attacked by Ichy and Dil, who followed them the whole time. The protagonists run for their lives, taking refuge behind a stone. Ichy, however, is not deceived and finds Petrie then captures him. However, he begins arguing with Dil over whose prey Petrie is, during which Tickles sneaks up and stuffs Dil's tail into Icky's beak. Cera then cheers Tickles, which tells the villains where she is. In the resulting chase, Ducky ends up falling into a river when, while retrieving a fallen nightflower, Ichy grabs her, and a subsequent fight with Petrie causes him to lose his grip. Dil nearly eats Ducky, but Spike yells out her name at that moment, which causes her to wake up and grab onto a branch, out of reach of Dil. When Ichy tries to distract the other kids with evil faces, Spike swats him down into Dil's mouth - Dil thinking she has Ducky. The kids then head home, marveling at Spike's newfound speech. Meanwhile, Ichy, after being spat out by Dil, gets into another argument with her, after which they finally split up. Just then, an angry Plesiosaur chases Dil; her fate remains unknown. Littlefoot and the others return to the Valley in time to save Littlefoot’s grandfather with the Nightflower, which also ensures that Littlefoot is to stay in the Great Valley. Soon after, Ali moves out with her herd; according to the epilogue, Littlefoot and the others will meet her again. Reception The film generally received cold reviews from the critcs, receiving a 0% at Rotten Tomatoes.com.Rotten Tomatoes synopsis for The Land Before Time IV:Journey Through the Mists [http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/land_before_time_iv_journey_through_the_mists/uk.rottentomatoes.com - review of Journey Through the Mists] Retrieved on April 1st, 2008. Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews said in his review that The Land Before Time was suffering from the "excessive sequel syndrome", with films that were "pure formula". He also criticized the film for being released straight to video, for not having very frightening villains when the Sharpteeth in the previous films had been scarier, and for having a similar raw theme to the previous films.Internet Reviews critic Steve Rhodes' review of Journey Through the Mists (25-07-2002) uk.rottentomatoes.com - Steve Rhodes' review Retrieved on April 1st, 2008. Rod Gustafson on Parent Previews.com said that the previous three films had all been good, if not predictable, but this film was a disappointment compared with them. However, he believed it might be interesting to young children.Rod Gustafson's review on Journey Through the Mists at Parent Previews.com ( 1996)www.parentpreviews.com Retrieved on April 1st, 2008. Bonnie Sayers on Epinions.com gave Journey through the Mists a rating of four stars out of five, and praised the family love portrayed in the film, but opposed the scenes in the Land of Mists; deeming them as "scary for young kids".Bonnie Sayers' review of The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists, on May 13th, 2001 www.epinion.com No. 22314520196 Retrieved on April 13th, 2008 Nine years after the video release of the movie, Richard Scheib of the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review Database (www.moria.co.nz) rated it a two-star movie, and said it was the slowest-paced film of all the TLBT films that had been produced up to then. Scheib also accused it of copying The Lion King, which was released in 1994 (two years before Journey Through the Mists's release), with the concept of "The Circle of Life", which was even the topic of Grandma's Lullaby.Richard Scheib's review of Journey Through the Mists on Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review Database, (www.moria.co.nz) 2003 www.moria.co.nz Retrieved on April 1st, 2008. Michael Scheinfeld on Disney Family.com, in his review on all the Land Before Time movie series (in 2007), also criticized the song, and said that it was a "blatant attempt to conjure up memories" of that film. He, however, got the name of the song incorrect; calling it "The Circle of Life" instead of "Grandma's Lullaby".Michael Scheinfeld's review of The Land Before Time movie series, on Disney Family.com (2007) family.go.com Retrieved on April 22nd, 2008. Nevertheless, most of the critics seem to agree that the film is a good family movie, with characters and adventures young children will likely enjoy watching.Joe Leydon's review of Journey Through the Mists, on Variety.com (Mon., 23-12-1996) www.variety.com Retrieved on April 1st, 2008.www.parentpreviews.com review of Jouney Through the Mists Michael Sauter on Entertainment Weekly.com said that while the formulaic nature of the sequels had not changed, Journey Through the Mists was still more vibrantly animated and had catchier songs than the previous films had.Michael Sauter's review of Journey Through the Mists at Entertainment Weekly (EW).com (13-12-1996 www.ew.com Retrieved on April 1st, 2008. Awards/Nominations In 1997 The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists received two nominations for an Annie award, the first time being for Best Individual Achievement: Music in a Feature/Home Video Production (Leslie Bricusse), and the second time being for Best Home Video Production. Songs The songs are written by Leslie Bricusse. *Grandma's Lullaby *Who Needs You? *It Takes All Sorts Trivia *This story appears to be occurring several months or even seasons after the extinguishing of the wildfire featured in the previous film, during which time the damage caused thereby has entirely healed. Grandpa Longneck mentions when the Old One asks if their land has "changed" that the Great Valley is in perfect order. *This is the last film for Linda Gary as Grandma Longneck (she died after filming, which is possibly why she did not have many lines in this film), Scott McAfee as Littlefoot, Candace Hutson as Cera, Heather Hogan as Ducky. *Topsy, Cera's father, doesn't appear in this film, as the kids play large roles and Littlefoot's grandparents are the only parents that play roles in this film. *Rica Matsumoto, the Japanese voice of Cera, also voices Ash Ketchum on the original Japanese version of Pokémon. *In the Finnish dub Dil's gender seems to have changed into male, since her (his) voice is clearly masculine. Though it is not confirmed since in the Finnish language both male and female are referred to with the word "hän" meaning both him/her. Subsequently, in the Spannish dub the Old One is given a male voice. *The Struthiomimus dinosaurs seen in this film resemble Ozzy and Strut. *This was the first time Spike spoke in a film. Though in the Finnish version of the very first movie, he uttered one word: "food". Goofs *'Continuity:' As Ali turns to say "goodbye" to Littlefoot and his friends, her eyes have the same color as Littlefoot's, whereas they had differed throughout most of the film. *During Dil and Ichy's musical argument (Who Needs You?), Ichy sings, "I need you like a cold in July." There is no lunar calendar system in the Land Before Time universe; by that line of reasoning, July and other months should not have been mentioned. Nor, in puristic terms, should have been such references as to a cold (which is a virus and therefore presumably unknown to dinosaurs and their close relations), and the use of the word "Sun", which is nearly always replaced in the Land Before Time series by the epithet "Bright Circle". *On the VHS cover for the film, Dil and Ichy are on a high cliff watching Littlefoot and the gang. Ichy is holding a tiny pair of binoculars, which do not exist in the Land Before Time universe. But this might have just been a joke. Character debuts *One-off characters: **Dil **Ichy **Archie **Tickles *Characters who made later appearances: **Ali **The Old One *Species first seen in this film: **Archelon **Deinosuchus **Ichthyornis Memorable Quotes :Spike: (Spike's first words) Dah... dah... Ducky! :Ichy: How nice! Dessert! Head for the shore; my sweet tooth called. :Dil: Ichy, you know the routine. Dinner first, then dessert! :Ichy: What are you, my mother? :Archie: (protecting Littlefoot) The kid's a snack, but I'm a meal! :Ichy: I think he could be the main course! :Littlefoot: I can't leave you here, Grandpa. :Grandpa: Don't worry, Littlefoot. The herd is brave, and the Old One is wise. :Littlefoot: I don't think she's very smart! Home video release history *December 10, 1996 (VHS and laserdisc) *May 13, 1997 (VHS and laserdisc - The Land Before Time Collection) *December 1, 1998 (VHS and laserdisc; the last laserdisc release - Universal Family Features) *December 4, 2001 (VHS) *April 1, 2003 (DVD) *December 2, 2003 (VHS and DVD - 4 Movie Dino Pack (Volume 1) and 9 Movie Dino Pack) *September 27, 2005 (DVD - 2 Dino-Mite Movies) References External links *The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists at the Internet Movie Database. *The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through The Mists Trailer at Video Detective *[http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/136476/The-Land-Before-Time-IV-Journey-Through-the-Mists/overview New York Time's ratings of Journey through the Mists] *[http://movies.go.com/the-land-before-time-iv-journey-through-the-mists/d799160/family Movies.go.com's Journey through the Mists review] *[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?scarlettTitleId=324084 Turner Classic Movies.com's article on Journey Through the Mists] *[http://www.flixster.com/movie/the-land-before-time-iv-journey-through-the-mists Flixster.com's article and reviews of Journey through the Mists] *[http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=13827 The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists at Reel.com] *[http://www.hollywood.com/movie/The_Land_Before_Time_IV_Journey_Through_the_Mists/164877 The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists at Hollywood.com] Category:Land Before Time Movies